The present invention relates generally to the field of wireless communication services and, more particularly, to a system and method of determining the availability of wireless communication services to a new subscriber in a communications network.
Subscribers to conventional landline telephone services are registered with respect to a given street address or other fixed location. Even where landline telephone infrastructure is well established, a new subscriber must be located in the system. The given address is located inside a rate center. Although there are variations between carriers, a rate center is generally defined to be a set of geographical boundaries used by telephone companies to determine interexchange service charges. A rate center therefore is a bounded geographical area subdivided for telephone services, by addresses.
Communication networks use an electronic database, or at least a system of conventional maps, to define the boundaries between rate centers. The street address given by the new subscriber is located on this map, or in this database. Files for the purpose of servicing and billing the new subscriber cannot be established until the street address is located in a rate center. Locating the street address in a rate center can be cumbersome process. A human operator must enter the appropriate data, manipulate the maps, and initiate the correct procedures to assign the subscriber a telephone number and establish a file for billing purposes.
U.S. telecommunication networks consist of a geography of more than 20,000 wire center serving areas. These central switching areas, which are also known as end offices (EOs) or local exchanges (LEs), act as feeders in the distribution of services to telephone subscribers. Each wire center has one or more switches which control the first 6 digits (area code plus the following three digits) of a ten-digit telephone number. A critical requirement for any new service provider operating a wire center in a local loop market is the maintenance of a billing structure for the inbound calls which is the same as that charged by a previous provider. For example, if a subscriber switches their local telephone service to a new service provider, the subscriber will typically get a new telephone number from the new service provider. People making local calls to the new number should expect to receive the same billing rate as was charged for the old number. In other words, with a change of service provider, a call should not change from local to long distance, or vice versa. To meet this requirement, the new local telephone company must find the rate center the subscriber resides in, and assign a new telephone number from the numbering pool available from that rate center.
The advent of fixed-place wireless communications systems, such as ATandT""s Fixed Wireless System (FWS), expands the communication potentials available for the average user who is currently being served by a landline telephone. Although the FWS is wireless, it is designed to transfer data between a subscriber premises at a street address and a base station, both of which remain stationary. However, it is critical that a local FWS base station be able to communicate with the remote sites associated with the street address with a high degree of confidence. Therefore, the radio frequency (RF) xe2x80x9cfootprintxe2x80x9d of the base stations, and the potential RF coverage available to potential subscribers (remote units) must be known at the time a new user is requesting the service. An area of RF coverage therefore is a bounded geographical area in which reliable wireless communications can be conducted. Service to each RF coverage area is provided by at least one base station, or multiple base stations which provide overlapping coverage inside the RF coverage area.
To request service in an FWS communications network, a new subscriber""s street address must be located in the network by rate center, and the RF coverage available at that street address must be known before the request can be granted or a telephone number assigned.
It would be advantageous if the street address of a new subscriber could automatically be located in a rate center with just the entry of the service address.
It would be advantageous if the RF coverage available in a communications network could be correlated with a communications network database of geographic locations.
It would be advantageous if the RF coverage available for a new subscriber to a fixed position wireless communications service could be ascertained in response to the entry of the subscriber""s street address.
Accordingly, a method is provided for determining the availability of wireless service to potential customers in a communications network. From communications network information concerning the location of rate center and areas of RF coverage, the method entails: receiving an address for the determination of service availability; accessing the rate center and RF coverage information in response to receiving the address; and locating the address in one of the of rate centers determining RF coverage in the area where the address is located; and assigning service to the address if RF coverage is available.
From the determination of rate center and RF coverage, the appropriate service availability can be assigned to the subscriber. Typically, each area of RF coverage has a corresponding set of business rules. Once a base station associated with the RF coverage area is known, the business rules applicable to that base station can be determined and applied to the subscriber. For example, the rules may concern the availability of new service based upon the number of subscribers already using the base station.
A system is also provided for determining the availability of communications services to a network subscriber with a premises address. The system comprises a service coverage and location (SCL) server including a database of rate centers in the network. The SCL includes an application to convert addresses to locations in the rate centers. In response to the entry of an address, a rate center associated with the address is determined. An SCL interfaces with a SCL user interface, the SCL user interface provides the address to the SCL, and accepts the determined rate center in response to submitting the address.
Where the communications network includes a fixed-position remote link to the subscriber, the SCL server includes a database of geographically located areas of RF coverage. The SCL server application locates the subscriber address in an area of RF coverage and determines the availability of service in response to RF coverage of the area in which the submitted address is located.